Rotary engine.



No. 677,087. Patented .lune 25, I901.

T. M. KENNEY.

ROTARY ENGINE.

(Application filed Aug. 27, 1900.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

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No. 677,087. Patenfed June 25, I91".-

' T. M. KENNEY.

ROTARY ENGINE.

(Application filed Aug. 27, 1900.) (No Model.) 2 Sheeis- Sheet 2.

Wifilt565. 1720022222:

I UNITED STATES PATENTS: OFFIQEI THOMAS M. KENNEY, OF CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE BOSTON ROTARY ENGINE 00., OF PORTLAND, MAINE.

ROTARY ENGINE.

SPEGIFZCA'IION forming part of Letters Patent No. 677,087, d t d J 25, 1901. Application filed August 27, 1900. Serial No. 28,088. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS M. KENNEY, of Cambridge, county of Middlesex, and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Rotary Engines or Motors, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like characters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to a rotary engine or motor, and has for its object to provide a simple, efficient, and substantially noiseless engine or motor capable of using steam, hot air, gas, or other suitable medium and which will be hereinafter referred to as a steam engine or motor.

The present invention is shown as embodied in an engine or motor of the class shown and described in United States Patent No. 546,974, dated September 24, 1895.

This invention has for one of its objects to increase the efficiency of the engine by preventing live steam escaping to the exhaustport during the operation of the engine, as will be described.

Another feature of the invention consists in reducing to a minimum the noise occasioned by the movement of the piston or pistons while the engine is running, and especially when running at a high speed. 7

These and other features of this invention will be pointed out in the claims at the end of this specification.

Figure 1 is aside elevation of a rotary engine embodying this invention; Fig. 2, an elevation of the engine shown in Fig. 1 with the head removed; Fig. 3, a plan view of the engine shown in Fig. 1 with the top or cap removed, and Fig. 4 an inverted view of the top or cap removed from Fig. 3.

The cylindrical rolla is provided with journals I), having bearings in suitable heads 0 of a casing or cylinder, which in the present instance is made in two parts at e, suitably fastened together and to which the heads 0 are suitably secured. In the present instance only one head 0 is shown in Fig. 1, and the upper part c of the casing or cylinder constitutes a cap for the lower part (1. The removable cap a has its inner circumference made in the arc of a circle having the same center g as the roll a and forms a solid abutment for said roll. The lower part (1 of the casing has its inner circumference made in the arc of a circle having the center h, which is eccen- 5 5 tric to the center 9, and consequently the inner circumference of the lower part of the casing forms two substantially long cam-surfaces i 3', extending in opposite directions from a point to the upper surface of the lower part d of the casing, where the said cam-surfaces meet the circular surface of the abutment e. The purpose of the substantially long cam-surfaces 'L'j will be hereinafter more fully explained. The roll a forms, with the casing d, a crescent-shaped space m, which in the operation of the engine is separated into live-steam and exhaust chambers by means of one or niore pistons or wings carried by the said rolls. In the present instance the roll is provided with two cooperating pistons or Wings 12 0, movable in a slot extended diametrically through the roll, as shown in Fig. 2. The pistons n 0 are alternately moved into and out of the slot in the roll, and each piston in its outer position cooperates with the inner wall of the casing to form live and exhaust steam spaces 1) g on opposite sides of it. In order to insure a steam-tight fit or contact of the piston with the inner wall of the casing d in the operation of the engine, the piston is provided with a pivoted end, preferably made as herein shown and consisting of a shoe 7', having its outer face made in-the arc of a circle with the same radius as the inner circumference of the casing d, and a pivot or knuckle s, to which the shoe is attached, as by a pin or screw 25, (indicated by dotted lines.) The pivot or knuckles is fitted into a socket in the piston or wing it and extended longitudinally thereof. The piston or wing o 011 the opposite side of the roll is provided with a like shoe 'LL and pivot o. It will thus be seen that while the piston is traveling in a circle having one center, as 9, its shoe, by reason of its pivot, is enabled to have its outer surface travel in a circle havingja different center, as h. Consequently the shoe is enabled to make a steam-tight joint with the inner circumference of the casing, and thus effectively prevent escape of steam from the live-steam space by the piston and into the exhaust-steam space.

The shoe attached to each piston also enables the live steam to force it out against the wall of the casing when the steam is first admitted into the live-steam space,as will be described. The piston and its attached shoe may be held in its outerposition by means of springs 2, (indicated by dotted lines, Fig. 2,) which are confined in suitable pockets or holes in the abutting walls of the pistons, which, as represented, may be made overlapping.

The. roll a is provided on its periphery with a plurality of separate pockets or cavities, herein shown as three in number and marked 3 4 5, (see Fig. 3,) and the said pockets cooperate with separate steam-inlet ports 6 7 8 in the cap or abutment 6, (see Fig. 4,) the said steam-ports communicating with a suitable steam-supply pipe 9. By reference to Figs. 2 and 3 it will be seen that the steampockets 3 at 5 are arranged about the roll, so as to receive steam in succession or progressively, and the pockets are made of sufficient size to insure the rotation of the roll under full steam-pressure until the piston reaches the point of cut-off, which may be the point it, at which time the roll cuts off communication between the steam-inlet and the space 19, the roll thus constitutinga rotary valve. By reference to Figs. 1 and 3 it will be seen that first one pocket, as 3, takes steam from its cooperating inlet-port 6, then the pocket 4 takes steam from its port 7 before the pocket 3 passes by its port 6, and then the third pocket takes steam from itsportS before the pocket 4 passes by its port 7.

The roll a between the piston 17. and the pocket 3 is provided with a solid portion 10 and between the solid portion 10 and the piston with a small cavity 12. The solid portion 10 cooperates with the wall of the casing to cut off the steam-pocket 3 from the live-steam space 19 before the piston has moved f nll y outward, and the cavity 12 acts to receive live steam just after the pocket 3 is in communication with the live-steam space in order to permit steam to act on the back of the shoe and force it into contact with the inner wall of the casing, and thus insure the piston being properly forced out against the casing when the live-steam space is connected with the steam-supply and avoid liability of the steam from keeping the piston from being moved out, as might be the case if the springs 2 alone were depended upon, and especially when steam at high pressure is used. The cavity 12 also serves to receive the pivoted shoe when the piston is in its innermost position, at which time the outer surface of the shoe forms part of the circumference of the roll.

In the present instance the casing (Z is provided with a series of ports 20, which communicate wit-h a passage 21, extended longitudinally of the casing, and with which communicates the exhaust-pipe 22. The roll a is represented in Fig. 1 as provided with two an excellent engine.

wings or pistons, and it is therefore provided on its circumference-with a set of pockets 3 4 5 for each piston. In Fig. 3 the roll a is represented as provided with a set of pockets 3 4: 5 on opposite sides of a central annular flange 25, which revolves steam-tight in an annular groove 26 in the casing and its cap 6, thus making a double engine, with the steampockets in one set quartering to'the steampockets in the other; but it will be understood that one set of pockets is sutficient to obtain The casing cl may, and preferably will, be provided with a small port 30, which communicates with a drip-pipe 31 and which serves as an outlet for any water of condensation which may accumulate in the space an behind or above the piston when the engine is stopped.

By making the cam-surfaces long, as de scribed, the noise occasioned by the piston being forced out against the cam-surface is reduced to a minimum.

I claim I 1. In a rotary engine or motor, the combination with a casing or cylinder having a steam-inlet, of a roll provided with a radiallymovable piston cooperating with the wall of the casing to form steam-spaces on its opposite sides, and havinga plurality of separate steam-receiving pockets arranged about the' said roll to receive steam in succession and successively connect the said steam-inlet with one of said steam-spaces formed by the said piston in its projected position, substantially as described.

2. In a rotary engine or motor, the combination with a casing provided with a circular portion forming an abutment and having a steam-inlet opening intermediate of the ends of the said circular portion, and with cam-sun faces extended from said abutment, of a rotary roll making contact with said abutment and forming a valve for said steam-inlet, and provided with a steam-receiving pocket cooperating with said steam-inlet, and a radi= ally-movable piston carried by said rollv and having a shoe pivoted thereto to engage said cam-surfaces to form steam-spaces on opposite sides of it, said shoe in the innermost po sition of the piston being received within said steam-pocket with its outer surface forming part of the circumference of said roll, and means to positively move said piston outward into a position to be acted upon by the steam, substantially as described.

3. In a rotary engine or motor, the combination with a casing provided with a steam inlet and exhaust and with a circular portion forming an abutment and having extended from it cam-surfaces, of a roll revoluble in said casing and provided on its periphery with a plurality of pockets or cavities arranged about the roll in proximity to each other to receive steam in succession while the roll is passing in contact with said circular portion, and a piston carried by said roll, substantially as described.

Ice

4. In a rotary engine or motor, the combination with a casing composed of two parts having their inner circumferences made in the arcs of circles having diiferent centers, of a roll revoluble in said casing about the center of one of said arcs and making contact with said are, a piston movable into and out of said roll and provided witha shoe pivoted thereto to make contact with the other are of the casing to form a live-steam space and an exhaust-steam space; a steam-inlet opening in the casing extended through the arc with which the roll makes contact, a cavity in the roll to connect the said steam-inlet with the live-steam space, and into which the pivoted shoe extends with its outer surface forming part of the circumference of the roll, when said piston is in its innermost position, and means to positively move the piston outward into a position to be acted upon by the steam, substantially as described.

5. In a rotary engine or motor, the combination with a casing provided with a circular portion forming an abutment and with camsurfaces extended from said abutment, of a roll revoluble in said casing and making contact with the said abutment, a piston movable into and out of said roll, a pivoted shoe carried by said piston and. cooperating with said cam-surfaces to form live and exhaust steam spaces, a plurality of steam inlets formed in the said abutment, and a plurality of cavities formed in the said roll and cooperating with the said steam-inlets to connect them with the live-steam space formed by the said shoe, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

THOMAS M. IQENNEXTQ Witnesses:

JAs. H. CHURCHILL, J. MURPHY. 

